On Ambition

Is it too late to write a post about my New Year's resolutions?

Nah.  Taking a quick look over my blog will show you that I'm pretty much late at blogging everything.

I mean, the Truth in the Tinsel series is still dangling out there.

The Theme Thursdays are woefully behind.

I didn't share anything about our Christmas. 

Hmm.  Perhaps I need to have another resolution added to the list...

 

Anyway, here's the list.  Some of them are more like reminders to myself, and of course I well know the dangers of setting myself up with too much to accomplish and not nearly enough time to get it done.  Nevertheless, it's something at least at which to aim.

 

FAMILY

1.  I would like to spend more time with each child individually.  Each one of my offspring are amazing and unique creatures (oh boy are they unique!), and I don't want to miss out on that one-on-one time with them.

2.  Naturally, I want to spend some more time with the Nerd also.  This would not include playing Star Wars on the computer or watching a bland TV show while playing games on our cell phones. (in case he reads this)  I want to set aside specific time every week that we invest in each other.  Hopefully, at least once this year, I will also make plans for us to get away together, just the two of us.

3.  Additionally, the plan is for me to stay more connected with the family that is scattered everywhere.  And I mean, everywhere!  Dear siblings in Florida and Pennsylvania and Ohio and Canada and Indiana, I want to invest in my relationships with each of you.  And all my wonderful nieces and nephews too. 

 

ORGANIZATION

1.  I dream of coming up with a doable, healthy meal plan and actually doing it consistently every month.  I've got a head start on January by having a day planned to cook several freezer meals.

2.  I need to figure out a new housecleaning schedule and chore system for the kids and stick to it.  The old one isn't working anymore.  I will gladly accept any and all ideas in this regard.

3.  I want to change up our homeschooling schedule and breathe a little "new life" in it, if you will.  I want to fully embrace this path we have chosen as a family and take advantage of every learning opportunity we encounter this year.

 

PERSONAL

1.  I desire to discover the Bible in a new way this year.  I've already started with the She Reads Truth program and am absorbing it all.

2.  I need to make some new friends this year!  This is an area in which I am sadly lacking, although I have a few close and therefore super-awesome friends.  I want to be intentional and purposeful about meeting people and building relationships with them.

3.  Since my life is not busy enough, I want to find a hobby or some outside activity to devote time to every week.  It might be a cooking class, a book club, a sport, or anything-just-to-get-me-out-of-the-house-and-be-social-and-away-from-my-kids.  This has not yet been decided.

4.  I have become extremely lazy in the areas of food and fitness in the past few months.  No longer!  I am back on track in both areas and resolve to continue in them throughout the year.  I am using Mark Lauren's book Body by You for my fitness program.  As for nutrition, I am keeping a food journal in which I record calorie intake as well as how much protein, carbs, fiber, and fat I am consuming to help keep it all balanced.  My sweet mother-in-law is helping keep me accountable to this journal.

 

OTHER

1.  I am seriously considering furthering my education.  I have my bachelor's degree in elementary education, but I would like to either get my masters in education or perhaps in special education.  The Nerd and I are discussing ways we can make this happen.

2.  Obviously, some sort of resolution needs to be made about this blog.  I need to stop committing myself to things like Theme Thursdays that consume a lot of time and try to write posts more organically.  In particular, I would like to focus more on this new faith journey I am on as well as our dealings with autism.  We will see how it goes!

 

I am hoping to be "stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" as I seek to carry these resolutions out this year. (I Corinthians 15:58)

 

Happy 2013!

Homeschool - First Day

Well, we took the plunge and started our year of homeschooling the Drama Queen on Tuesday. This decision to homeschool our daughter did not come without its share of inner turmoil, fears, anxieties, and general "What-if?"s. Still, I know it is the absolute best thing for our family this year, and I looked forward to the first day almost as eagerly as our little scholar. I was nervous about time management and little-boy-wrangling on the side, though.

The Drama Queen started the day off by posing for a bunch of first-day photos and exploring the writing instruments and shiny new textbooks in her desk. Although she is technically in kindergarten, her academic skills are far beyond that of a kindergartener; so I purchased first grade curriculum to teach to her this year.

I wrote out some rough lesson plans for our first day for each of her subjects, not knowing how much time it was going to take to teach one child each of these things. I am used to planning out lessons for classes of 15 or more students! During our first day, I recorded how much time it took for each subject to use for future lesson planning. Disregarding sibling interruptions and other distractions, actual class time was about 2 1/2 hours - much faster than I anticipated. We made time for a "recess" break and a snack as well. The Drama Queen soaked it all in, especially science class, which is her favorite by far.

We set up a large white board in the dining room for the teaching times. I have always enjoyed "board work" as a teacher and would take hours in the evenings to set up my boards for the next day of school. now I get to do that again - on a much smaller scale of course, but it is so fun to see the Drama Queen's reaction when she comes out for breakfast in the morning and sees the exciting things we will be learning that day.

Of course, we don't want to leave the Beast out of all of this. As I mentioned before, he has been approved for a blended class at the local community school this semester (a mixed class of both "normal" kids and kids with autism or attention deficit disorder.) He started his first class with his new teacher, Miss Alison, today. He went right into the classroom but then the shyness and nerves took over. He headed straight for a chair in the reading corner and hid behind it. When I picked him up two hours later, he kept hugging and kissing me and asking me to hold him. I tried to talk to him about what he actually did in school that day, but as usual the vague little man left me hanging. All I know is that there is a class pet turtle.

In the meantime, the Spud tries to horn in whenever he can. I caught him singing today, "A,E,I,O,U, I can sing my vowels to you." I do try to include him in Bible time as well as art time and other activities as much as possible.

Of course, we are in the midst of first-week-of-school-euphoria. I am fully expecting a stubborn Drama Queen to melt down at some point in the future, crying that she can't do it, and also anticipating that this growing-ever-more-tired-by-the-day preggo momma will have a day or two when I just don't want to do it. Welcome to real life, peeps!

And with that, I had better get some rest. We are facing basic addition in arithmetic tomorrow!